First Contact: Out of Africa

Ur moved silently through the woods. He was the tribe’s most massive warrior and dry leaves littered the forest floor but he was a skilled hunter and he knew this place. His family had lived here since the first fires were lit but now it was hot and dry. The berries withered on the bush and game was scarce. Every year the young were less and fewer of them thrived. He had to go further and further to find food and without the aid of the other men. They looked for small game now and would have better success if they split up.

Desperation made him careless and the heat made him forget it was no longer summer so he was alone among the deepening shadows when a strange figure emerged from the shadows. It was a man but not like any Ur had ever seen. This was a lithe, delicate-looking creature with dark skin, not one of the pale-skinned, massive-boned people of his tribe. He also marveled at the strange person’s garb which included intricate beadwork on his clothes and in his hair.

The stranger made a series of rapid noises that sounded like birdsong to Ur, though their meaning was clear. Ur tried to hand signal but the stranger didn’t comprehend those any better than Ur understood his noises. The stranger raised a kind of slender bent stick. Ur moved forward and raised his spear but, before he moved ten steps, he heard a twang and felt a bolt of pain as something sharp hit the left side of his chest. As his vision tunneled in, he saw more of these people emerging from behind trees. His last regret was that he could not warn his tribe as his blood pooled on the ground and modern humans took their first steps on a new continent.